Windows 8 Release Candidate Coming In May or June?

The Windows 8 Consumer Preview was released nearly exactly a month ago to the day and was greeted by over 1 million downloads on the first day alone. Windows 8 has received mixed reviews from people but the reality of it is this – The Windows 8 Consumer Preview is very close to what Microsoft’s next operating system will be.

We’ve seen significant improvements in the Consumer Preview of Windows 8 when compared to the Developer Preview which Microsoft showed off at Build late last year. There was over 100,000 code changes in the Consumer Preview as well as a large number of new features. The next milestone for Microsoft now will be the first release candidate (RC 1).

There’s been rumours floating around the web recently which would suggest that the Windows 8 Release Candidate could arrive as early as late May or early June. Now these dates weren’t just picked at random, there’s actually a little bit of maths involved here, as well as random guessing.

If we look at the Developer Preview, it was build number 8102. The Consumer Preview was compiled at build number 8250. This gives us roughly 150 builds in between the two releases (148 to be exact).

So could Microsoft possibly follow this release pattern?

Going on this, the Release Candidate will be compiled at build 8400, 150 builds after the Consumer Preview. The most recent build produced by Microsoft has been build 8307, it took them just under a month to compile 57 more builds of Windows 8.

If we take it as 1 month = 5o builds

February build 8250 (Consumer Preview)

March 8250 + 50 builds = 8300 (Roughly where we are now)

April 8300 + 50 builds = 8350

May 8350 + 50 builds = 8400 (Thought to be the Release Candidate).

This would mean that at the end of May or early June, Microsoft will have reached build number 8400, which rumours are suggesting could be the first Release Candidate.

Of course this maths of mine could be absolute and complete rubbish, but I think it’s a pretty good rough estimate. Microsoft don’t strictly have to follow any build pattern, and they can skip builds as well just as easily.

But hey, maybe just over 2 months from now I’ll be able to say I was right!

What do you guys think?

Let us know in the comments.

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Microsoft Lining Up Windows 8 For October 2012 Release

This probably doesn’t come as much as a surprise to many of us, we all knew well that Microsoft are looking to release Windows 8 towards the end of 2012. It also makes sense that they’d want to ship it in time for the holidays to get a some extra bang for their buck. Going on Bloomberg’s report, Microsoft are aiming to ship Windows 8 in October of this year.

According to their report, Microsoft are looking to wrap up work on Windows 8 this summer, with an army of Windows Tablets and other hardware devices shipping with the new OS in October. We’re also being told that both Intel and ARM devices will be hitting our shelves at release.

We’re being told that Microsoft are getting ready to hold an even in April for its industry partners. At this event they will outline release schedules as well as their marketing campaign for the new operating system.

This report pretty much confirms everything we had already been expecting, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Microsoft will want to get Windows 8 on the market as soon as possible. It has to if they want to prevent themselves losing much more ground to Apple.

A lot of Windows 8 success will come down to the range of hardware on offer at launch. There needs to be some killer devices launched with it to tempt people away from the iPad, but more importantly their cash.

Now who wants to place a bet on the release date?

I’m going for October 22nd… sound familiar?

Source:

Bloomberg

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Microsoft Release Windows 8 Keyboard Shortcut List

The Windows key on our keyboards can do many things, at least when paired with another key in a shift-type arrangement.  We’ve long known now that there would be many more keyboard shortcuts in Windows 8 to help users perform tasks that would otherwise be done with gestures and touch, and now the company has blogged about all those keyboard shortcuts.  Microsoft’s Rob Margel released the list on his MSDN blog and there are certainly a lot of them.  In fact it can be argued that there are too many for the typical user to ever remember.

What is more likely however is that some of the more usaful ones, such as Win+C to bring up the Charms menu, Win+X for the admin menu and Win+B to switch to the desktop from within the new Metro Start Screen will be the most used and remembered.

Below is the complete list of keyboard shortcuts for Windows 8.

Windows key – Brings up the Metro start screen. You can start typing to search for an app, just like the Win7 start menu.

· Win + B – Switch to the (classic) Windows desktop and select the tray notification area.

· Win + C – Brings up the Charms menu, where you can search, share, and change settings.

· Win + D – Brings up the old Windows desktop.

· Win + E – Launch Windows Explorer with Computer view displayed.

· Win + F – Brings up the Metro File search screen.

· Win + H – Opens the Metro Share panel.

· Win + I – Opens the Settings panel, where you can change settings for the current app, change volume, wireless networks, shut down, or adjust the brightness.

· Win + J – Switches focus between snapped Metro applications.

· Win + K – Opens the Devices panel (for connecting to a projector or some other device)

· Win + L – Lock PC and return to Lock screen.

· Win + M – Minimize all Windows on the desktop

· Win + O – Locks device orientation.

· Win + P – Choose between available displays.

· Win + Q – Brings up the Metro App Search screen.

· Win + R – Switch to the (classic) Windows desktop and display the Run box.

· Win + U – Switch to the (classic) Windows desktop and launch the Ease of Access Center.

· Win + V – Cycles through toasts.

· Win + W – Brings up the Metro Settings search screen.

· Win + X – Launch Start Menu.

· Win + Y – Temporarily peek at the desktop.

· Win + Z – Opens the App Bar for the current Metro application.

· Win + Page Up / Down – Moves tiles to the left / right.

· Win + Tab – Opens the Metro application switcher menu, switches between applications.

· Win + , (comma) – Aero Peek at the desktop.

· Win + . (period) – Snaps the current Metro application to one side of the screen. (Right side)

· Win + Shift + . (period) – Snaps the current Metro application to the other side of the screen. (Left side)

· Win + Space – Switch input language and keyboard layout.

· Win + Shift + V – Cycles through toasts in reverse order.

· Win + Enter – Launches Narrator

· Win + Arrow Keys – Switch to the (classic) Windows desktop and enable Aero Snap

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Apple To Release 15-Inch MacBook Air With Ivy Bridge Chip Next Month [REPORT]

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It’s a subject we’ve touched on a few times over the last couple of months, and now the hype surrounding the rumors of the iPad 3 have been somewhat satisfied, the tech world can switch its attentions to other potential Apple releases – namely a 15-inch MacBook Air.

The Air – particularly in its current form factor, has become one of the Cupertino company’s most celebrated products, and with PC makers trying very hard to emulate the wafer-thin design with Ultrabooks, it’s not altogether difficult to see why.

While there has been much talk of the MacBook Pro range being subject do a design overhaul in the image of the Air, spectators have also toyed with the idea of the compacter of the two notebooks adding a third wheel to the current 11 and 13 inch models available.

Electric Pig reckons an "anonymous vendor" at a UK accessories expo in London stated earlier this week that a new size Air would be arriving in a "shakeup [that] will happen in April".

Whilst the MacBook Pro remains vastly superior in terms of specs, Apple has packed in some impressive hardware into the slimmest of designs with the Air, and it wouldn’t exactly be an illogical step to add a 15-inch model to proceedings. Furthermore, it has been reported on numerous occasions that a new Air could capitalize on Intel’s new Ivy Bridge processors, although the chip maker has been somewhat slow in producing them. Still, if a sufficient number can be made, Apple would likely draw favoritism from Intel, which would in turn give the fruit company an edge over competitors.

Unlike the iPhone and iPad, which tend to arrive around the same time each year, Tim Cook’s company doesn’t have a set season for a MacBook Air launch. The first model arrived in January 2008, and was minorly updated later that year. The third installment didn’t arrive until October 2010, although it was worth the wait since that was the point where the design got its current, uber-sleek aesthetics.

The last update was in July of last year, which renders the next release anybody’s guess. Whatever the case, if Apple does manage to pull off its first batch of Ivy Bridge, 15" units by next month, the response of consumers is likely to be as keen as ever.

(via Pocket-Lint)

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Microsoft Needs To Release An Office for iPad App

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The Daily posted two screenshots of what they claim to be Office for iPad. One screenshot showed what looks like the “start screen” of the app, where you can open and create documents, and the other showed the “Office” app icon.

Long story short, Mary-Jo Foley contacted Microsoft PR only to receive a response in which Microsoft flat-out mentioned that the photos are not of a real Microsoft product. They did not comment, however, on whether Office for iPad is indeed in the works. The Daily stood behind their screenshots, saying that they are not fake, and Microsoft fired off a tweet stating that they have “bad info”.

While no solid information really surfaced that day, Microsoft’s PR reaction was interesting; they didn’t deny outright that they were working on an Office for iPad app. Furthermore, there’s even speculation that Microsoft plans to announce Office for iPad at the special iPad 3 announcement event on March 7th, and Microsoft wishes to keep its plans a tight secret until then.

But I mean, why would Microsoft not create an app for the iPad?

Microsoft’s Business Division – home to the Office group – recently overtook Windows as Microsoft’s main source of operating income, so it’s only right that they continue to cultivate and grow this cash cow. 55 million iPads were sold in total since the tablet’s debut in 2010, and it has proven to be untouchable in the tablet sector.

With those numbers in mind, surely Microsoft at least have plans to create an iPad app at some point. And as the iPad is sure to maintain growth and market share, I don’t think that by not already releasing an Office app, they will miss out on much revenue. In fact, one likely reason for this delay in releasing an app is that they wished to reserve Office as exclusive functionality of Windows Phones (having the world’s most popular productivity suite on your mobile device is yet another selling point, after all). Perhaps they may also have wanted to wait until the details to their own tablet strategy were worked out as well.

On that note, Microsoft’s strategy with Office on tablets is interesting; there won’t be a proper WinRT application, but they will be implementing a touch-optimized mode in the legacy version of Office. There is skepticism (including from myself) that this mode won’t be pleasant to use, but it’s still far too early to tell. What I suspect (and I’m crossing my fingers for) is that Microsoft plans to develop an awesome Metro touch alter-ego for Office.

Perhaps – if Microsoft will actually release an iPad version of Office this year – the edge that Microsoft will tout that Windows on ARM tablets have over the iPad is the ability to use the full-featured version of Office.

Whatever the case, profit is profit. Diversifying to iOS – and Android, too – would both increase income and show that Microsoft are maintaining relevance with newer mobile devices.

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Commercial release of Kinect for Windows hits Feb. 1st

Commercial release of Kinect for Windows hits Feb. 1st

The sales for Kinect for the Xbox 360 have been amazing with 18 million sold this last year. The end result has been countless hours of incredible fun with family and friends dancing and playing sports in the confines of their living rooms. Kinect has also opened the door for developers and businesses to create new and innovative experiences through natural user interface (NUI) on the PC. The explosion of imaginative ideas that can be done with Kinect is something we call the Kinect Effect.

And to encourage the expansion of the Kinect Effect, early in 2011 we announced the Kinect for Windows SDK and in November it was announced that a commercial release of Kinect for Windows would happen in early 2012. Today at CES, we are announcing even more details for the commercial release of Kinect for Windows.

Starting on February 1^st, the Kinect for Windows hardware and software package will be available in limited quantities (at first) at a variety of resellers and distributors for the suggested retail price of $249 (U.S.). It will be available in 12 countries - United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, and United Kingdom. The price of the Kinect for Windows hardware and software package includes a one-year warranty and access to ongoing software updates for both speech and human tracking. Later in 2012, academic pricing for Qualified Educational Users planned at $149 will be available.

In addition to support for Windows 7, Kinect for Windows will also support the Windows 8 Developer Preview (desktop apps only) which is available for developers to download today at the Windows Dev Center.

For more information on the commercial release of Kinect for Windows, I suggest reading this blog post from the Kinect for Windows Team. Also, check out the Kinect for Windows website.

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All Windows 8 Editions That Microsoft Will Release

Still wondering if Microsoft will cut down on the number of Windows 8 editions that the company will make available when the full version gets released later this year? Worry no more, we have all the information that you need.

If you search the Registry of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview version, you will find a listing of all the different versions that Microsoft intends to release. But first, let me explain how you can access the information in your version of Windows 8.

Open the Windows Registry Editor first. If you are on the desktop, use Windows-R to bring up the run box, enter regedit in there and tap on the return key. Select yes if an UAC prompt comes up. If you are in the Metro interface, type regedit, hit enter and select Yes in the UAC prompt.

Now navigate to the following Registry key:  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing\PackageIndex\Product

The Registry key lists the following Windows 8 editions:

• Microsoft Windows Enterprise Edition
• Microsoft Windows Enterprise Eval Edition
• Microsoft Windows Home Basic Edition
• Microsoft Windows Home Premium Edition
• Microsoft Windows Prerelease ARM Edition
• Microsoft Windows Prerelease Edition
• Microsoft Windows Professional Plus Edition
• Microsoft Windows Starter Edition
• Microsoft Windows Ultimate Edition

The majority of editions are identical to Windows 7. Only the ARM edition appears to be new. The Eval and Prerelease editions appear to be for testing purposes only. (via Caschy’s Blog)

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